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I too had a main bettery

I too had a main bettery replaced at 163,000 miles. To my surprise they said the replacement battery warranty is only good for 12000 miles or one year. Cost was $1800 plus a new ecu - $600 something. That seems to me like an awfully short warranty for such an expensive part. I did call
Toyota in Calif. They said that the warranty on the replaced battery is 12 months, but unlimited mileage. Stinks, to me.
Anyway, after going some 35000 miles, I got the main battery warning light again - too late for the warranty, which had expired. I had read somewhere that the main battery warning light would go off if you disconnected the auxilliary battery, which I did. When I hooked it back up, the warning light went off. I have this happen three times recently, and after disconnecting and reconnecting the aux. battery, everythiing works fine - no warning light.

the REAL question is: what

the REAL question is: what error code is being generated when the warning light goes on?

resetting the warning light is like pulling the battery out of the smoke detector, and going back to sleep.

the light just tells you a malfunction has occured. You have to check the codes on the OBDII port to find out if this is just a harmless false alarm that can be ignored... Or if the car is trying to warn you that you are about to DIE (no brakes, no steering, fuel explosion, ect)

Bought a new Camry Hybrid 3

Bought a new Camry Hybrid 3 weeks ago. Love it so far. The day after we picked the car up we took off on a long trip -- Utah to New Mexico to Arizona to Mexico and home. Almost all road miles and we got about 36 mpg overall.

Preparing for the future-- is the Camry battery pack the same as the Prius?

Another question -- Toyota offers a rear window pull up screen (blind) for the regular Camry. Will this screen fit a Hybrid or could it be modified to fit a Hybrid? I sat in the back seat for awhile and the sun really beats down on your neck. Anyone have a solution?

It seems to me that Toyota

It seems to me that Toyota is making too much money on that battery replacement. If someone can do the replacement themselves for $400 and you consider that the dead battery has a value for the recovered metal, why are they putting such a high replacement cost on the battery? Here are the only things that I can think of:

1. The guy who claims he repaired/replaced the battery himself for $400 is not being honest (this seems probable since he did not include the link to the information in his posting and requests that you email him for the link to the information).
2. Toyota wants us to scrap the car when the battery dies. Keep in mind, it is quite possible that the auto makers have been avoiding electric based vehicle due to the reliability of electric system compared to internal combustion; they cannot sell as many parts to the owner of an electric based auto vs. a gas auto. The higher reliability means the cars would be on the road much longer and therefore prevents the sale of new cars to that owner. Additionally, let us keep in mind, the reduced number of overall moving parts means less replacement parts sold compared to their gas counterparts during the operating years. Having one component that will certainly fail and making it very expensive is one way to kill off older vehicles and pave the way to new sales.
3. Toyota is building in a safety margin into the cost, i.e. even proven technologies have their issues and batteries do heat up when charging and discharging presenting the possibility of catastrophic failure that could result in an explosion (not the kind you see in the movies, but enough to set the car on fire). We have seen this with laptop batteries exploding and causing fires. Perhaps the automaker is pricing the battery based on actuarial sciences (factoring in the cost of replacing the car amortized over the number of events that could happen per so many batteries on the road) and let’s not forget a little profit on top of all that.
4. The battery is still including amortized engineering costs that are still being paid and therefore reflect Toyota’s investment in this technology; in essence Toyota may be selling the battery at near cost with dealer’s putting their profit margins on the event.
5. GREED!

Above are just some things to consider. Me, I think it is probably a mix of all of the above.
I look forward to your comments.

It seems to me that Toyota

It seems to me that Toyota is making too much money on that battery replacement. If someone can do the replacement themselves for $400 and you consider that the dead battery has a value for the recovered metal, why are they putting such a high replacement cost on the battery? Here are the only things that I can think of:

1. The guy who claims he repaired/replaced the battery himself for $400 is not being honest (this seems probable since he did not include the link to the information in his posting and requests that you email him for the link to the information).

2. Toyota wants us to scrap the car when the battery dies. Keep in mind, it is quite possible that the auto makers have been avoiding electric based vehicle due to the reliability of electric system compared to internal combustion; they cannot sell as many parts to the owner of an electric based auto vs. a gas auto. The higher reliability means the cars would be on the road much longer and therefore prevents the sale of new cars to that owner. Additionally, let us keep in mind, the reduced number of overall moving parts means less replacement parts sold compared to their gas counterparts during the operating years. Having one component that will certainly fail and making it very expensive is one way to kill off older vehicles and pave the way to new sales.

3. Toyota is building in a safety margin into the cost, i.e. even proven technologies have their issues and batteries do heat up when charging and discharging presenting the possibility of catastrophic failure that could result in an explosion (not the kind you see in the movies, but enough to set the car on fire). We have seen this with laptop batteries exploding and causing fires. Perhaps the automaker is pricing the battery based on actuarial sciences (factoring in the cost of replacing the car amortized over the number of events that could happen per so many batteries on the road) and let’s not forget a little profit on top of all that.

4. The battery is still including amortized engineering costs that are still being paid and therefore reflect Toyota’s investment in this technology; in essence Toyota may be selling the battery at near cost with dealer’s putting their profit margins on the event.

5. GREED!

Above are just some things to consider. Me, I think it is probably a mix of all of the above.
I look forward to your comments.

Hi Mr. T...
Today is July

Hi Mr. T...
Today is July 16, 2010.
A few days ago the master light came on in my 2001 Prius (the triangle with the exclamation point and the red flashing car with the exclamation point). Toyota mechanics say I need a new electric battery. It has 109,000 miles on it, and the battery is warranted for only 100,000 miles I am told. I purchased the car used from a private party 2 years ago. It does have the yellow "clean air emission" stickers on it and because of that I can drive in the diamond lane anytime.
So....are you saying that it may have an extended warranty ...because of those stickers?
Sure would like to know...
A new battery is going to cost $3000. !!
Thanks so much for any info you can provide.
Charlene M.i

Check out

Check out hybridbatteryrebuild.com that is where you can buy my guide and learn how to rebuild failed prius batteries using generation 2 cells for very inexpensive. It will save you thousands of dollars. Or email me at hybridbatteryrebuild@yahoo.com and I can sell you replacement cells for your battery.

Saw an article on CNN

Saw an article on CNN article titled "200,000-mile Prius keeps on going". They performance test a 200,000 mike prius with it's original battery vs. a new Prius and there was little difference. It also mentions that used batteries can be pcked up from wrecking yards for about $500.

I have an '05 Prius with

I have an '05 Prius with 144,000 miles. I just found out that I have to replace the battery at a cost of $3800. Very upsetting. Other than this issue, I have issues with my headlight intermittently going out which seems to be a big problem with the Prius yet no recall has been issued and a problem with having to replace the tires after every 30,000 because the car is to heavy. I don't think I will be buying a Prius again unless Toyota gives me a hand with all this expenses.